


Swimming Pools

by fullalphawolf



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-25
Updated: 2014-12-25
Packaged: 2018-03-03 09:24:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2846000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fullalphawolf/pseuds/fullalphawolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gift for yukimuranoshiko for bhwoc network secret santa</p>
            </blockquote>





	Swimming Pools

Braeden was pretty sure that she’d been able to swim before she could even walk. Although that was a given since babies already knew how to swim. But when she had to relearn it, the water became her second home. Everyone in her family teased her, calling her the little mermaid. Although she was pretty sure she’d be able to wipe the floor with the likes of Ariel.

But that was beside the point. The point was that she had just finished her senior year of high school and was going to college on a swimming scholarship. She’d be a collegiate swimmer in the fall of next year and she couldn’t wait. Her high school swim team had been rough especially since everyone had been busting their asses for a scholarship. She’d just been fortunate enough to get a full ride to her dream college, Stanford University. That and she was the captain of the swim team and probably the best swimmer in California.

College would give her a whole new perspective on swimming. There would probably be much bigger competition now and her cockiness wouldn’t suffice any longer. It’s not like she didn’t work to be the best, it just came naturally to her with little or no effort. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t be practically living by the pool the whole summer like she promised herself she would. She’d been a little intimidated by scouting reports and graduates from Stanford who had made it to the Olympics.

This year would be different, she would have to prove herself all over again. She definitely wasn’t going to be overlooked because she had slacked off. Everyone would see why she held the status she did in high school and no one would think twice once she literally blew the competition out of the water.   


\---

  
The first day of university had come more quickly than she thought it would. It was straight to business on the first day. She walked in to the pool room with her speedo and lucky goggles and swim cap ready to make the swim team all over again. The pool at Stanford was ten times bigger than it had been at her high school. It was almost the same size as the pool she worked out at over the summer. This would be a piece of cake.

The first person she would swim against was Derek Hale. He looked pretty cocky himself; almost as cocky as her, but not quite. Entering new pool water was like entering unfamiliar territory. But it still felt like no one was around and that she’d entered a realm of serenity while still maintaining her focus. When the coach blew the whistle she was off, speeding through the water like a seahorse. She tapped the end of the pool a millisecond before Derek and turned around to push off for two laps up and down the pool. Derek had made sure to stay right next to her. When the last lap came around, she was almost sure he would beat her. They both reached the wall at the same time, tapping the coach’s hand in sync.

“Well that’s never happened before.” He said

“It hasn’t happened to me before either.” They said at the time

“Well, congratulations, you’ve both made the team.”

Braeden had walked off angrily, trying to figure out how someone else could match her speed. No one matched her, she dominated everyone and she wasn’t going to let someone else be just as good as her. It was bullshit and it definitely wasn’t going to happen to her again.

\---

She’d slept off the swim and went back to the pool to next day. Only to see Derek there as well.

“Why are you here?” She said

“It’s a public pool isn’t it?”

She frowned, he had a point there, “Just don’t get in my way.”

“Your pool, your rules.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? You just made it explicitly clear that this pool is public.”

“I just mean that even though I did say that, you still act like it’s yours.”

“I never said it was mine.”

“But you said not to get in your way.”

“Well yeah is that too much to ask?”

“This pool is big enough for the both of us.”

“Whatever.”

He smiled at that, as if she’d something pleasing to him. At least he kept his mouth shut and left her alone the rest of the time; until he decided to open that big mouth of his again.

She’d been sitting on the poolside, minding her business when he walked over to her.

“You know? We were never properly introduced.”

“I’m Braeden. Braeden Seirenes.”

“Cool. Well you already know my name so...”

“Do you want to know why I act like this pool is mine?”

“Sure.”

“Because I feel like it is. I feel like no one deserves to be here but me and no one deserves a spot on this team more than me.”

“Were you swim captain in high school?”

“Yeah. How did you know?”

“Because I was too and I feel the same way you do, I just don’t exactly tell people.”

“Well you’re not me and I’m not you so don’t expect me to shut up about it.”

“I won’t. I just thought you should know that we’re not that different.”

\---  


As much as she hated that what Derek said, she had to admit that he was right. She’d pretty much thought about it longer than she had wanted to before she pulled her head out of her ass and finally decided to actually talk to him. When she finally did, she learned that he was cocky as hell without saying it aloud but he still wanted to be her friend anyway. He’d race her to the pool and back and make her try to beat his swim time. He challenged her to be better than him. He recognized her talent but wasn’t afraid of letting her know that he wasn’t intimated by it.

It was everything she didn’t know she had wanted until now. People knew that she was good but they never tried to match her or surpass her but Derek had done both. She hated him for it but she was pretty grateful for it too.

Weekly meets at the pool had soon turned in to daily meets. They’d split paths from the pool without the slightest idea of where the other was going. One day they’d decided to go back to her dorm. She had no idea who suggested it first but it sort of just happened on the spur of the moment; which was weird because she wasn’t the kind of person to do impulsive stuff like this.

But it was nice anyway. Derek had decided that he was right at home and plopped down on her bed like it was nothing. Not that she had minded, which was weird because she never let her guard down that low for anyone. She had boundaries and sitting on her bed was an absolute no except when it came to Derek for some reason. That didn’t mean she would immediately sit down with him.

She shuffled around the room finding any excuse to remain standing. She would make a move to sit down and then would get back up after remembering something she had to do. It was stupid of her, being so cautious about sitting in her bed with a boy. It was Derek Hale, he didn’t mean anything to her in any romantic type of way.

She must have gotten lost in these thoughts as she hovered over her bed for the umpteenth time because she felt a hand circle her wrist and she didn’t flinch a bit.

“Just sit down Braeden. You’ve been avoiding your own bed the whole time we’ve been here. I can get up if you want.”

“No its fine.” She said as she sat down next to him. She hadn’t realized how tired he was until she sat down. Somehow she nodded off, resting her head on his shoulder and falling in to his lap. When she woke up a few hours later, her eyes were looking up at a blurred face. Her eyes came in to focus and she saw it was Derek and that he’d fallen asleep to. He looked horrible, probably worse than she did. Her hair felt just as out of place as her clothes looked. But she didn’t care; she had to take a picture of how dumb Derek looked before he woke up.

As she napped the picture, he startled awake. He woke up unawares, looking like a dear in the headlights. He looked between her and the camera in her hands and raised his eyebrows.

“Are you really taking pictures of me?”

“Yes, you looked so dumb I just had to permanently capture it.”

“We’ll see who’s looking dumb when I delete the picture.”

He somehow gained a bunch of energy and tried to grab the camera out of her hands. She’d held it behind her back and he made an effort to reach around her and get it. But she didn’t relent, raising the camera in the air and back down as he reached for it. She’d leaned against the wall and threw it under the bed, keeping her hand there just to mess with him.

He’d moved closer to her and started laughing

“Just give me the camera. Please.”

She’d let her hand hang limp and hidden under the bed. He’d reached it for it unknowingly and slowly raised her hand up. Seeing her hand empty, he leaned over her and looked under the bed. When he got the camera after several minutes of reaching and grunting, he couldn’t even figure out how to delete the picture. He just held it out to her, silently begging her to delete it. She raised it up and showed him that it was gone for good. Little did he know, she had another one saved since her camera had taken multiple shots at once.

She’d probably spent the whole night looking at his dumb face and laughing to herself; nodding off with the camera right over her stomach. Derek had made his way back to her dorm in the morning, knocking only to find the door unlocked. When he saw the camera over her stomach, he took it off and looked at what she had probably lost sleep over. He flicked on the camera to see his sleeping face staring back at him.

He woke her up again. It wasn’t really rude of him since he’d meant to wake her anyway for their swim meet. She startled and sat up frantically looking around.

“Looking for this.” he said

“Um yeah, I can explain.”

“Please explain how a picture I saw you delete is still on your camera.”  


“I still had it since the camera took multiple shots.”

  
“Oh and why was it on your stomach.”

“I kind of fell asleep looking at it.”

“If my face is so dumb, why’d  you lose sleep over it.”

“I didn’t. I just..”

“You just what?”

She honestly had no clue what he wanted her to say. That she actually liked his dumb face and she wanted it on hers. That she found comfort in looking at an unlikely but wonderful friend.

He just sat down next to her and took her hand, placing the camera back in it.

“I don’t really care. I just came to get you for our meet.”

“But you should care.” she mumbled

“What?”

“I said you should care.”

“Why?”

“Because I like your dumb face.”

“You do?”

“Yeah and I want it on mine.” she said before sitting up to meet his eyes. She looked between his lips and his eyes as she waited for permission to kiss him that came in the form of the slightest of nods. She just pecked him, pulling back quickly and looking at him. His eyes were still half closed, so she went in and kissed him again for real. It wasn’t really something she had to think about. Although she hadn’t expected to be kissing the boy she was pretty sure was going to hate all through college.

She let herself relax in to the kiss as he cradled her face in his hands. He kissed back with as much vigor as she did. When he pulled away, both of their eyes were fully open.

“We’ll be late for our meet if we don’t stop.”

She agreed and moved from around him to change her clothes quickly. Her body was filled with excitement. She’d never made the first move before. Probably because this would be her first real relationship if she let it go that far. Nothing was better than being with a good friend. Especially since they’d loved each other silently as friends before they’d delved in to anything romantic.

She walked out of the dorm and he held out his hand for her to take. She took it and everything that came along with it. Maybe Stanford wouldn’t be so bad for her after all.

 


End file.
